Jane Austen describes a world of highly regulated social behavior in which roles and intentions were more clearly communicated than they are tody. Nevertheless, Jane Austen's world is filled with people struggling with the same weaknesses we struggle with today.

More than a dozen Michigan lawmakers support a resolution in the state’s House of Representatives pressuring fast-food chains like McDonald’s to eliminate “gender-classified” toys from their children’s meals.

Lincoln's Secretary of State was famous for hosting dinners which brought together politicians of radically different opinions who always left the dinner happy. Can we learn something from William Seward's hospitality?